The Railway Series
* Christopher Awdry * George Awdry |illustrator= * William Middleton * Reginald Payne * C. Reginald Dalby * John T. Kenney * Gunvor and Peter Edwards * Clive Spong |publisher= * Edmund Ward * Kaye & Ward * Egmont Publishing * Heinemann Young Books * Poplar Publishing |series= |published=1945 - 2011 }} The Railway Series is a series of children's books about the railways of the fictional Island of Sodor. The books were created by the Reverend W. Awdry, who wrote the first stories in 1943. He penned twenty-six books from 1945 to 1972. A further sixteen books were written by his son Christopher Awdry. The final book in the series, Thomas and his Friends, was published in 2011. The series formed the basis for Thomas & Friends, with many of its books and stories being adapted for television. History Origins In 1942, Wilbert Awdry's son Christopher had measles and was confined to bed. To prevent their son getting bored, Wilbert and his wife Margaret Awdry told him stories and nursery rhymes. Most of them eventually lost their entertainment value, but one that continually appealed to Christopher was the rhyme "Down by the Station". Wilbert subsequently drew a picture of several engines standing in a row based on the rhyme and for fun gave them faces with various expressions. One sad-looking engine appealed to Christopher, as it shared his mood and he asked what his name was. Wilbert replied with the first to come to his head: Edward. Through a series of questions and answers, the story of Edward's Day Out was created. Eventually, Christopher began asking for more stories and Awdry obliged him with "Edward and Gordon" and "The Sad Story of Henry", the latter being inspired by another rhyme he was fond of. Christopher would constantly ask for the stories to be retold, even after he recovered and to ensure consistency between tellings, Wilbert wrote them down on the back of old church circulars. Margaret Awdry also liked the stories and told her husband to get them published, as she felt they were better than most children's books in circulation. Awdry was reluctant, but Margaret persisted and mentioned the stories in a letter to Wilbert's mother, Lucy, who replied that she knew the author Michael Barsley and asked that the stories be sent to her so she could forward them to him. At Margaret's insistence, Wilbert did so. Barsley's attempts to find a publisher were unsuccessful, so he showed the stories to his agent, Edith Ray Gregorson, who liked them and agreed to pursue the matter further. Her attempts to find a publisher were initially no more successful, as most were suffering paper shortages due to the Second World War, but in September 1943, Edmund Ward agreed to publish them, though refused to commit to a publication date, to Wilbert's annoyance. In October, Ward wrote to say that the stories would be published as one book entitled "The Three Railway Engines", but that he required rough sketches for his illustrator to base his pictures on and a fourth story to finish off the book. While Awdry was annoyed at the requests, since Ward had already rejected his drawings, he agreed and wrote "Edward, Gordon and Henry". While it was hoped this would speed up publication, the book was not published until 12th May 1945. The book was an immediate commercial success, quickly selling out its initial print run of 22,500 copies and going through two more by the end of the year. Awdry, while happy to see his book in print, was disappointed in the illustrations by William Middleton. Continuation Conclusion Books Rev. W. Awdry These volumes were later compiled into Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection. The Complete Collection compilations were released by various publishers in different years and countries, all containing the same 26 volumes. The Reverend W. Awdry planned to call his twenty-seventh volume Really Useful Engines, but he never got to use it following his retirement. Completely by coincidence, Christopher Awdry's first publication had this title. Christopher Awdry Volumes 27-41 were compiled into Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection. '' * Another ''Railway Series book titled Barry the Rescue Engine was also being written by Christopher Awdry, but was cancelled and replaced with Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines. Other Books Annuals From 1979 to 1980, annuals were written by the Rev. W. Awdry and from 1985 to 1996 by Christopher Awdry. In some cases, these stories expanded upon earlier Railway Series books. In others they were entirely new and some stories were later rewritten and used as Railway Series stories. Pop-Up Books Several Pop-Up books were released based on various Railway Series stories from previous books. # The Flying Kipper and Henry the Green Engine (W. Awdry, 1983) # Bertie the Bus and Thomas the Tank Engine (W. Awdry, 1983) # Thomas the Tank Engine and the Tractor (W. Awdry, 1984) # Henry the Green Engine and the Elephant (W. Awdry, 1984) # Henry the Green Engine Gets Out (W. Awdry, 1984) # James the Red Engine and the Troublesome Trucks (W. Awdry, 1984) # Thomas the Tank Engine Goes Fishing (W. Awdry, 1986) # Percy the Small Engine Takes the Plunge (W. Awdry, 1986) # James the Red Engine and the Signal (C. Awdry, 1994) # Percy the Small Engine and the Scarf (W. Awdry, 1995) # Thomas the Tank Engine Catches a Thief (C. Awdry, 1995) # Thomas the Tank Engine and the Scrambled Eggs (C. Awdry, 1995) Mini/Board/Sticker books There have been several Railway Series-related books published which were written by the Awdrys. These books were illustrated by Ken Stott, Tony Wells and Edgar Hodges. Companion volumes These books mainly feature the Island of Sodor, dealing with its history, geography and industry in far greater depth than could ever be discussed in the Railway Series stories themselves. However, The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, is a biography of Rev. W. Awdry and companion to the series. # Twelve Happy Engines (W. Awdry, 1970) # The Railway Series: Surprise Packet (W. Awdry, 1972) # Railway Map of the Island of Sodor (W. Awdry, 1976) # The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways (W. Awdry and G. Awdry, 1987) # The Thomas the Tank Engine Man (B. Sibley, 1995) # Sodor: Reading Between the Lines (C. Awdry, 2005) Bad Days for Thomas A series of books written to highlight rail safety. They were written partially due to Christopher Awdry's frustration at not being able to include a proper rail safety story in Thomas and the Great Railway Show. # Bad Days for Thomas and his Friends # More Bad Days for Thomas and his Friends Mr. Perkins' Storytime In this series of segments, Mr. Perkins reads the Railway Series stories. Each story is rewritten by Andrew Brenner and illustrated by Loraine Marshall. # The Flying Kipper - (Santa's Little Engine DVD; US/UK/AUS) # Trucks! - (The Thomas Way DVD; UK only/Whale of a Tale and Other Sodor Adventures DVD; UK only/Spills and Thrills DVD; US only) # Thomas and Gordon - (Spills and Thrills DVD; UK/Wild Water Rescue and Other Engine Adventures DVD; US) # Pop Goes the Diesel - (Trouble on the Tracks DVD; UK/US/AUS) # Thomas and the Breakdown Train - (Tale of the Brave DVD; UK/AUS only/Engines to the Rescue DVD; US only) #A Scarf for Percy - (The Christmas Engines DVD; US/UK/AUS) # Thomas Goes Fishing - (Signals Crossed DVD; US/UK) # Edward and Gordon - (Dinos and Discoveries DVD; UK/US/AUS) # Toby's Tightrope - (Trouble on the Tracks DVD; UK/AUS only/Whale of a Tale and Other Sodor Adventures DVD; US only) # Gordon Goes Foreign - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Thomas' Train - (''Railway Mischief'''' DVD; UK/AUS only/Tales on the Rails DVD; US only'') # Henry and the Elephant - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Thomas Comes to Breakfast - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Thomas in Trouble - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Ghost Train - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Thomas and Bertie - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Percy and Harold - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Thomas, Terence and the Snow - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Sir Topham Hatt's Engines - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) # Trouble in the Shed - (Thomas' YouTube World Tour) Trivia * Nearly all of The Railway Series stories were based upon real-life events. As a life-long railway enthusiast, Wilbert Awdry was keen that his stories should be as realistic as possible. The engine characters were almost all based upon real classes of locomotives and some of the railways themselves were directly based upon real lines in the British Isles. * Awdry drew from railway literature such as C. Hamilton Ellis' The Trains We Loved and L. T. C. Rolt's Railway Adventure for some of his stories. * With the exception of William Middleton, through illustration errors, each illustrator of the Railway Series has drawn Thomas both with and without the dip in his running board. * According to The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, Awdry had no intention of writing more Railway Series books after 'Thomas the Tank Engine', but after hearing about letters sent saying from fans of the books, he was convinced to continue writing the series. * C. Reginald Dalby drew the advertisement for Railway Series books in the illustrations. ** In the fourth illustration of Thomas and the Guard, advertisements for James the Red Engine and "All About Thomas the Famous Tank Engine" are visible. ** In the fifth illustration of Coal, advertisements for The Three Railway Engines and James the Red Engine are visible. ** In the third illustration of Percy and the Trousers, an advertisement for Troublesome Engines is visible on the blue double-decker bus. * The dust jacket for the books published in 1965Very Old Engines, 1st edn 1965 - ReproJackets - 1967Small Railway Engines, 1st edn 1967 - ReproJackets contained an advertisement for "Percy the Small Engine, brought to life by Meccano". * Prior to Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends being produced by Britt Allcroft in 1984, there were two attempts to adapt the Railway Series books to the television, both of which were cancelled. ** The Sad Story of Henry produced by the BBC in 1953. Because this episode failed, the BBC cancelled the planned subsequent episodes. ** Thomas the Tank Engine planned by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1973. A pilot episode was produced but cancelled by 1977 for various reasons. In Other Languages Japan From 1965 to 1967, Shuyū Shimizu lived in the UK with his family as a lecturer and international student at the Japanese Studies of Oriental Institute at the University of Oxford. One day he found the Railway Series books at an Oxford bookstore, purchased it for his son and they loved it. For seven years from April 1972, Shimizu taught English at Keio Yochisha at the request of his acquaintance Saburō Kuwabara. During this time they decided to translate the Railway Series. The Japanese translation rights were granted by Kaye & Ward through Charles E. Tuttle Co., a literary agent company. The Rev. W. Awdry was delighted to publish in Japan and sent a message to Japanese readers. This message was published in the foreword message of The Three Railway Engines and the front flaps of 26 books. On 10th November 1973, Poplar Publishing published the first three books and by November 1974, the first 15 books were published. The remaining 11 books were published between August 1980 and February 1981. The railway technical terms of these books were supervised by Motō Kuroiwa, the railway company owner. These original versions were discontinued around 2001. From March 2005 to January 2006, the first 15 books were published to commemorate the 60th anniversary of The Railway Series. There have been "updates" such as expanding the size of the book, having the same character name as the television series and correcting old-fashioned phrases. After the first 15 publications, the remaining 11 books were scheduled to be published, but were cancelled. On 10th December 2010, the 26 books were published as new mini versions to commemorate the 65th anniversary of The Railway Series. On 20th July 2013, Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection was published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Railway Series in Japan. When the television series began broadcasting in Japan on 4th October 1990, the Railway Series became even more popular. In 1992, 2005-06 and 2013-15, exhibitions of original artwork of the Railway Series, many sketches by Wilbert Awdry and the original models were held in Japan. References de:The Railway Series es:Serie Ferroviaria he:סדרת הרכבות ja:汽車のえほん pl:Railway Series ru:Железнодорожные истории Category:Books * Category:Australian Books Category:Chinese Books Category:Japanese Books Category:Korean Books Category:Norwegian Books Category:German Books